(Ebook) Brother & Sister Enter the Forest by Richard Mirabella ISBN 9781646221172, 9781646221189, 1646221176, 1646221184

(Ebook) Brother & Sister Enter the Forest by Richard Mirabella ISBN 9781646221172, 9781646221189, 1646221176, 1646221184

Opening like a fairy tale and ending like a nightmare, this cannonball of a queer coming-of-age novel follows a young man's relationship with a violent older boyfriend—and how he & his sister survive a terrible crime       After years of severed communication, Justin appears on his sister’s doorstep needing a place to stay. The home he's made for himself has collapsed, as has everything else in his life. When they were children, Willa played the role of her brother’s protector, but now, afraid of the chaos he might bring, she’s reluctant to let him in. Willa lives a carefully ordered life working as a nurse & making ornate dioramas in her spare time. As Justin tries to connect with the people she’s closest to—her landlord, her boyfriend, their mother—she begins to feel exposed.  Willa & Justin’s relationship has always been strained yet loving, frustrating & close. But it hits a new breaking point when Justin spirals out of control, unable to manage his sobriety & the sustained effects of a brain injury.  Years earlier, in high school, desperate to escape his home life & his disapproving, troubled mother, Justin falls into the hands of his first lover, a slightly older boy living on his own who offers Justin some semblance of intimacy & refuge. When Justin’s boyfriend commits a terrifying act of violence, the two flee on a doomed road trip, a journey that will damage Justin & change his and his family’s lives forever.Weaving together these two timelines, Brother & Sister Enter the Forest unravels the thread of a young man’s trauma & the love waiting for him on the other side.RICHARD MIRABELLA is a writer & civil servant living in Upstate New York. His short stories have appeared in Story, American Short Fiction online, One Story, Split Lip Magazine, & elsewhere. Brother & Sister Enter the Forest is his first novel.